You go online to buy a Pura Vida bracelet and something’s a little different. Right away, on the opening page, you see a “Shop Charity” tab and you think to yourself, “What’s that?”

Because normally, with other brands, the main benefactor of all product purchases goes to the brand itself. But with Pura Vida, a main component to the brand is its dedication to charity. Each bracelet made provides full-time jobs for local artisans in Costa Rica, but when you buy a certain kind, you are specifically giving back to a charity that truly benefits from every cent donated.

Every couple weeks, I’ll dedicate a post to educating you about the charities that Pura Vida supports, because not only do we want to drive you to our site, but if in fact a charity we support catches your eye, why not provide you with the information to learn more?

For February, the featured charities include:

The American Heart Association

The AMA is the nation’s oldest, largest voluntary organization devoted to fighting cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

Their Mission: Building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. Their mission drives everything they do.

Brooke received a life saving heart transplant on August 18, 2011 at two years old. As a result of this, she is now thriving at home. There have been an unprecedented amount of organ donation shortages in the United States. According to Donate Life America, more than 112,000 people in the nation are waiting for an organ or tissue transplant; every 10 minutes a new name will be added to the list; and every day, 18 people die in the United States because they failed to receive a transplant in time.

Their Mission: To educate the public about the extraordinary need for organ donation registration and to significantly increase the number of registered organ donors in the United States.

Established in May 2004, the Michigan Donor Family Council consists of donor families, transplant recipients and Gift of Life and Michigan Eye-Bank employees who have had first-hand experience with eye, tissue and organ donation. These donor families made a decision to save and enhance the lives of others, by donating their loved ones organs.

Their Mission: To provide a support system to eye, tissue and organ donor families as well as supporting the transplant community.

In the short term, the Newtown Memorial Fund is here to help the families of the 26 victims, those who were wounded but survived, the twelve kids who witnessed the massacre first-hand, those affected by the shooting as students/faculty/staff of Sandy Hook Elementary and Newtown-located schools, and first responders from the area who were dispatched to Sandy Hook Elementary.

Their Mission: The fund itself is a memorial. It’s not a plaque or a statue or even a building. It’s an ongoing remembrance that provides care and support for those directly affected today, and for the entire community, for the long term.